THE SNP lurching to the right “even by an inch” on social issues or the economy under a new leader would mean “game over”, according to the party’s policy chief.
Toni Giugliano has argued the SNP must remain “left of UK Labour and socially liberal” after fighting for many years to become the “progressive party we are today.”
He said the party’s new leader will have to champion a number of “conscience issues” in the coming months – including legislation on gender recognition, assisted dying, abortion buffer zones and sex worker’s rights.
The comments come after SNP deputy Westminster leader Mhairi Black also warned against any “turn to the right” by the party under new leadership, saying it would “risk alienating a huge slice of our membership and our electoral credibility.”
Writing in the Sunday National today, Giugliano said: “Politicians like Nicola Sturgeon come round once in a generation. But it’s her left-of-centre, progressive politics and her drive to fight poverty and inequality that will define her time in office.
“A champion for equality, an advocate for climate justice, an internationalist. It’s those values that the party must firmly grasp as we search for our next leader.”
He added: “Let me be clear – any lurch to the right, even by an inch, be it on social issues or the economy, would be game over. In a cost of living crisis where Labour are polling 20 points ahead of the Tories and a General Election looming next year, the SNP must remain firmly left of centre”.
He added he hoped to see a “wide spectrum of candidates” come forward for the contest to replace Nicola Sturgeon, with nominations due to close on Friday.
He went on: “Of course it is entirely possible to separate personal beliefs from the role of policy-making – Joe Biden for instance is a Roman Catholic who champions abortion and the rights of women.
“But any leadership hopeful with rigorous religious beliefs would need to give clear and emphatic assurances that those beliefs wouldn’t influence their policy direction and that they’d legislate for the whole country rather than the interests of a few. If they did so, they could secure wider consensus.”
Among those touted as an early frontrunner for the top job is Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, who is currently on maternity leave. She is one of the SNP’s most socially conservative politicians and a member of the Free Church of Scotland, which takes a strong stance against abortion and same-sex marriage.
She has previously tackled questions of whether her faith conflicts with SNP policies by saying she stands by collective responsibility, but her views would come under great scrutiny during a leadership contest.
Ash Regan, who quit as community safety minister in protest of the gender recognition reform legislation, has also been touted as a possible successor to Sturgeon.
Yesterday she tweeted: “All major decisions of the party’s direction must be made at conference. Power must be restored to the members and all branches. We can achieve independence with the voices and strength of our grassroots.”
According to a Savanta poll for The Scotsman, around 18% of SNP voters at last year’s Holyrood election in 2021 chose Forbes to succeed Sturgeon and she is also most popular among members of the public with 14% backing her.
Former SNP leader at Westminster and current Cabinet Secretary for the Constitution, Angus Robertson, is the next most popular, with 14% of SNP voters and 9% of the Scottish public backing the Edinburgh Central MSP.
Yesterday Robertson also received the support of actor Brian Cox, a prominent supporter of independence, who said: “He has a total grasp of the situation, so I think he would make a great leader.”
